Saturday, April 16, 2016

April 16, 2016 - JAPAN - An unexplained carpet of foamy bubbles filled streets in the
centre of the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka in the early hours of
Saturday morning- shortly after tremors from a devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.3 shook the town.

Twitter users posted pictures of the mysterious foam, with one calling it "disgusting".

"I saw it just after the earthquake," said Kazuki Nabeta, who lives in
the busy central district of Tenjin, where the bubbles were found.
Some have speculated that the earthquake may have caused an underground pipe to burst.

"People were posting pictures on Twitter and it was near my house, so I went out to have a look," said Mr Nabeta.

"There was a fire engine there. There wasn't anything special about it - it was normal foam."
Fukuoka is 90km away from Kumamoto, where the strongest tremors were felt.

Residents of Fukuoka reported strong shaking but little damage from the two quakes, which took place on Friday and Saturday.
At least 29 people have been killed by the earthquakes, which injured more than 1,500 and left many more homeless.

WATCH: Mysterious foam appears in Fukuoka.

A spokesperson at the Fukuoka town hall said they did not know anything about the bubbles, which remain a mystery. - Independent.

April 16, 2016 - ENGLAND - A huge crack running 100m (328ft) opened up on a section of Dorset's
Jurassic Coast on April 13, 2016. It appeared between Bowleaze Cove and
Redcliff Point at Preston, near Weymouth.

The massive crack splits the land in two on the famous Jurassic Coast in Dorset.

The resulting crevasse measures about 250 yards long, up to 3ft wide and 4ft deep on April 12, 2016.

Thousands of tonnes of earth have given way and will continue to slip away, changing the landscape of the renowned coastline.

It is unknown when the cliff will fall down on the beach, but walkers
and tourists are now being warned to steer clear of the chasm.

This gigantic landslip was caused by heavy rainfall in the last few months.
Fossil hunters and beachgoers are also being warned as the crack will mean extra clay and mud on the shore below the cliff.

As if an earthquake had struck.

The thing is that this geological process is all part of a progressive evolution of the coastline.
If hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rock have moved there is an
increased risk of rock falls and mud that will spill out onto the beach
and create a danger.

April 16, 2016 - JAPAN - Dozens of people are feared trapped under rubble in southern
Japan, as the death toll from two earthquakes has climbed to 41. The
search for survivors is in full swing, while 90,000 people have been
evacuated from their homes to safer locations.

Over 200 aftershocks have hit Japan following the initial Thursday tremor of 6.5-magnitude, which hit the city of Kumamoto on the island of Kyushu. Officials have warned that the risk of further strong aftershocks will linger for about a week.

About 190 of the injured are in serious condition, the Japanese government said.

WATCH: Second deadly quake destroys homes in southern Japan.

Only 24 hours later the same areas was struck by a violent 7.1-magnitude earthquake. The Japan Meteorological Agency briefly issued tsunami warnings for the areas that were still recovering from Thursday’s devastating tremors.

The overall death toll from the two quakes now stands at 41, with more than 1,000 people injured - 184 of them seriously.

About 90,000 people in Kumamoto Prefecture were evacuated to shelters, authorities say.

“We are aware of multiple locations where people have been buried alive,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. “Police, firefighters and Self Defense Force personnel are doing all they can to rescue them.”

“We offer our sincerest prayers for the two,” said a University statement. “We're trying to confirm the safety of other students.”

“I felt strong shaking at first, then I was thrown about like I was in a washing machine,” a Tokai University student told local media, “All the lights went out and I heard a loud noise. A lot of gas is leaking and while there hasn't been a fire, that remains a concern.”

The quakes triggered massive landslides, which cut off roads and destroyed bridges, local media reported, adding that they imperiled rescue and relief efforts.

Meteorologists forecast heavy rain and wind, adding that the temperature is expected to drop to 13 degrees Celsius.

"The wind is expected to pick up and rain will likely get heavier," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during a government meeting. "Rescue operations at night will be extremely difficult ... It's a race against time."

230 aftershocks hit Japan in 48hrs

The latest big aftershock came hours after the second deadly earthquake and measured magnitude 5.3.

Japan has suffered more than 230 aftershocks of at least level 1 on the Japanese scale since Thursday's earthquake, Japan's meteorological agency said.

"We have already seen several in the mid to upper 5 plus magnitude range, and over the next several days and weeks, we would not be surprised to see more earthquakes of this size," said John Bellini, a geophysicist with the USGS, as cited by Reuters.

WATCH: Double quakes hit Japan.

Local residents are still in shock over the earthquakes and the following tremors.

The 1,700-year-old Aso Shrine in the town of Aso, one of the oldest and most prominent shrines in Japan, has been severely damaged. Some of its curved tiled roofs were flattened on the ground.

The shrine’s towering gate, known as the “Rōmon” or “Cherry Blossom Gate” collapsed and is in ruins. The haiden or worshiping hall was also destroyed.

The Aso Shrine was officially recognized as one of the Kanpei-taisha - it stood in the first rank of government-supported shrines.

The quake has also destroyed another historic Japanese icon – the 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle, which is considered one of the three main castles in Japan. Its walls were severely breached, TV footage showed.

April 16, 2016 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.

Mass deaths of saiga antelope in Kazakhstan caused by bacteria

Almost total decimation of Betpak-Dala's population of 200,000 saiga
antelopes in 2015 caused by pathogen that led to hemorrhagic
septicemia, say scientists

The mysterious mass deaths of about 200,000 saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan last year was caused by a bacterial infection.

As news emerged in May last year of the near-total decimation of the
Betpak-Dala population of saiga antelope, there was plenty of
speculation but few concrete answers as to what might have been
responsible.
Kazakhstan's mass antelope deaths mystify conservationists

One idea was that rainfall had resulted in widespread, mortal bloat.
Perhaps there had been some infectious disease that had wiped out herd
after herd. Some even blamed poisoning by toxic rocket fuel spread
around Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome.

In the runup to this year's breeding season, which is when the
animals are at their most vulnerable to such events, the Saiga
Conservation Alliance (SGA) has released the latest thinking on what
caused the mass mortality in 2015. Several labs have confirmed the
presence of the bacterium Pasteurella multocida in tissue samples from carcasses collected during last year's die-off.

This pathogen normally lives harmlessly in the respiratory tract of
these antelope but it appears to have run amok, resulting in hemorrhagic
septicemia. This is known to occur in wild and domestic animals in
grassland ecosystems, but it has never resulted in close to 100%
mortality as was observed in the Betpak-Dala population. Research
efforts are now concentrating on figuring out how the Pasturella could have taken over as it did.

Are there any steps that could be taken to minimise the chances of a
repeat of last year? Not really, says Richard Kock of the Royal
Veterinary College. "There is no practical prophylaxis possible against
hemorrhagic septicemia in saiga given the species' behaivour and the
lack of a delivery mechanism for a vaccine." If, however, there are
other contributing factors that can be identified, "the potential for
intervention can be reassessed" in the future, he says.

Prior to the deaths last year, the global population of saiga stood at
around 262,000. The decimation of the Betpak-Dala herd means that there
are now fewer than 100,000 animals in existence.

"With the saiga's calving season just around the corner in early May,
you can feel the tension mounting amongst everyone who works with this
critically endangered species," says Caryln Samuel, SCA's administrator.

Rare 'megamouth' shark caught off Japan

Fishermen were stunned to when they saw the massive beast

An incredibly rare deepwater shark has been caught by terrified fishermen.

The massive 16ft beast was snared in fishing nets as stunned sailors
were forced to pull up the monstrous fish - reportedly weighing over a
tonne.

The enormous deep sea dweller has been identified as a megamouth shark
and was caught five kilometres off the coast of central Japan.

The shark was 16ft long

They have only been spotted 60 times since they were first discovered in 1976 - when a deep-sea anchor caught one off the coast of Hawaii.

The sharks dive as deep as 160 metres underwater during the day before rising as high as 12 metres during the night to feed.

April 16, 2016 - EARTH - A 23-year-old man died after he was struck by lightning in Boynton Beach
Friday, as heavy storms rolled across Palm Beach County. Meanwhile, three people, including a local Jubo League leader, were killed in
separate incidents of lightning strike during storm in Sadar and Lakhai
upazilas in Habiganj, Bangladesh.

Lightning bolt kills man in Boynton Beach, Florida

The incident happened just before 6 p.m. while the man was standing
under a tree in front of a house on the 200 block of North Palm Drive,
police said.

The unidentified man was taken to Bethesda Medical Center, where he
died, said Officer Jaclyn Smith, spokeswoman for the Boynton Beach
Police Department.

Lightning kills 3 in Bangladesh

The deceased were identified as Ramjan Ali, 35, a resident of Paschim
Bolla union in Lakhali upazila and also Jubo League president of the
union, Shafiqul, 40, of Badirkara village of the same upazila and Abid
Ali, 22, of Kashiar Abla village of Sadar upazila.

Sadar upazila health complex sources said a thunderbolt struck the trio
while they were working in fields in their respective villages around
2:00pm, leaving them seriously injured.

Later, they were rushed to the hospital where doctors declared them dead.

The freak creature was discovered in the womb of a slaughtered cow thought to have been too old to produce anymore offspring.
Each fully formed head had a pair of eyes, ears, nostrils and a
muzzle, and each sat on separate necks attached to a single body with
four legs and a shared tail.

The still born calf, weighing around 5kg and aged around seven months old, was also completely hairless .

Workers in the town Obidos, in west Brazil, said they were
shocked by the sight of the calf despite being used to butchering
animals.

One worker said: "We have never seen anything like it in our
lives. Word about the animal spread rapidly around the town and loads of
people came to have a look. It shocked us all at how weird and alien it
looked."

Aluísio Cancio, the owner of the mother said he had chosen to kill the
animal because she had become too old to keep and he never imagined she
was pregnant.

He said: "At this time of year I normally move my cattle to a drier part
of the land as the area they graze on gets flooded naturally by the
river. To pay for the transportation costs, I decided to sell 20 cows
for slaughter. I chose this cow because she was very old."

Gruesome remains of the still born calf. Liliane Viana

He added his brother had taken the animals to the slaughterhouse and was
the first person to break the news when he returned from the delivery.

"I've been working in this business for over 40 years and I have
never seen anything happen like this in the town. I was surprised and I
admit it scared me as well, but I understand that even though it is
weird it is a work of nature."

Brazilian vet, Simone Vieira Castro, explained to local television it was unusual for a cow to have a twin pregnancy.

He said: "In this case, I believe because the animal was old, the
embryos failed to divide properly. Instead of the two foetuses
developing separately they formed as one body with some separate
extremities."

Another possible reason for the abnormality or being born with more than
one head - known as polycephaly - is the repeated use of the same
mating bull, limiting the genetic variability in the flock.

Castro added: "Because of the degree of mutation this animal would never have survived, even if it had been born alive."

The remains have been frozen and are expected to be donated to a nearby university for veterinary students to study. - Mirror.

The tornado hit the city around 4 p.m. local time Friday. The National
Institute of Meteorology has yet to determine the scale of the
tornado.

"There are businesses in the center of the city, completely
destroyed. Schools, churches destroyed. This is something never seen before. This is something out of the normal for our country," Besozzi said.

WATCH: Tornado hits Dolores.

Mariela Umpiérrez, a resident of Dolores, told CNN en Español that her
house, office car and those of her relatives were damaged. "The images
seems taken out of a movie, but not from reality," she said. The Uruguay
government pledged to send emergency help to the affected areas. There
have been some looting in the area, but the government has sent officers
to address it, Besozzi said. - CNN.

April 16, 2016 - OKLAHOMA, UNITED STATES - Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused a house explosion in El Reno Wednesday afternoon.

Shortly before 4 p.m. on Wednesday, authorities were called to a home at 1120 S. Hadden in El Reno after a possible explosion.

Residents three blocks away reported hearing their windows rattle and feeling their floors shake.
El Reno officials confirm one person was injured and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

She remains in critical condition, according to El Reno fire officials.

Investigators still haven't been able to determine what caused the explosion.

Fire officials said they haven't found any explosives, and ONG claimed there's no evidence of a natural gas leak.
On Thursday, caution tape blocked off the damage site, not far from Hillcrest Park.
Neighbors are still shaken about the unexpected event.

"All the sudden, we just felt this vibration, this big explosion, and we didn't know what it was," said Danny Rundell.

WATCH: Investigators working to determine cause of El Reno house explosion.

Rundell, who lives just over a block from the explosion site, said he was watching TV when it happened.

"I've never felt anything like that before in my whole life," Rundell said.

Even city officials are shocked.

"Not here in El Reno. Sometimes, you may see it on TV but, in 30 years, I don't think we've ever experienced anything like this," said Chief Kent Lagaly, El Reno Fire Dept.
The explosion caused the house to move about two feet off of its foundation, creating a slant.

Fire officials said the damage is too dangerous to stay like this, the whole house will have to go.
"The last thing we want is kids to come in here. Kids are curious. We
just don't want anyone else to get hurt by anything happening with this
structure until we can make it safe," Lagaly said.
Soon after the investigation, the demolition will begin, starting with
the chimney - it's leaning, on the verge of falling onto the neighbor's
house.

"It couldn't have been a natural cause. There had to be something else. That's the only thing I could figure," Rundell said.

While a lot of questions up in the air, the fire chief said the explosion doesn't appear to be suspicious.

"Whatever caused this, it was not something intentional in any way, shape or form. Time will tell us," Lagaly said.

The study says that plastic waste entering the
ocean is one to three orders of magnitude greater than the reported mass
of floating plastic debris in high-concentration ocean gyres and also
globally.

April 16, 2016 - OCEANS - A dump truck full of plastic is unloaded into the sea every minute, and
experts say the situation is growing worse, with plastic debris expected
to outnumber fish by 2050.

With plastic production currently at a twentyfold increase since 1964, generating 311m tonnes in 2014, a new report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
has revealed we are rapidly approaching an environmental catastrophe —
especially where the world's oceans are concerned. This number is
expected to double in the next 20 years and almost quadruple by 2050.

New plastics will use 20% of all oil within 35 years, which stands at
around 7% today. And, despite the increasing demand, a mere 5% of all
plastics are recycled successfully — with 40% ending up in landfills and
a third in delicate ecosystems like the ocean. The remainder tends to
be burned to generate energy, which has its own environmental impact not
only in the pollution this practice generates, but also because it
causes more fossil fuels to be used in order to make new plastic
products like bags, cups, tubs and consumer devices.

A sea of plastic

One of the more shocking details in the report addresses how, by 2050,
we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish. Sit with that for a
moment. The day will come in the not so distant future where the sea
will be so clogged with plastic debris, fish will be in the minority.

The report states that every year "at least 8m tonnes of plastics leak
into the ocean - which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one
garbage truck into the ocean every minute. If no action is taken, this
is expected to increase to two per minute by 2030 and four per minute by
2050. In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain
one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish by 2025, and by
2050, more plastics than fish [by weight]."

This scenario isn't only horrifying from an aesthetic point of view, the environmental impact has far-reaching ramifications. Think bisphenol A (BPA), DDT, PCBs —
three exceptionally toxic chemicals present in plastic. BPA causes a
number of disorders, including cancer, diabetes, infertility and
obesity. DDT is linked with cancer, miscarriages, low
birth weight, male infertility, developmental delay, nervous system and
liver damage. PCBs also contribute to cancer and are linked with
disorders of the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems.

Unfortunately, when plastic breaks down, poisons leach into the
environment — especially the ocean. Fish are also attracted to these
colorful bits and eat them, which invariably saturates their tissues
with toxins. In the end, the chemicals arrive on our dinner plates.

As observed in Plastic is Killing the Planet and Our Health — Here's How We Can Turn the Tide:

"Here's the catch: every piece of plastic that was ever made is
still with us today as it was designed to last — and it does, for
hundreds of years. The ecosystem and our health are choked by it. What
will the planet look like in the not so distant future with the ever
increasing influx of this hardwearing material? It's a sobering thought and one that doesn't have an easy answer."

What can we do?

The first step in reducing our plastic load is to become informed. The documentary Plastic Paradise is an excellent place to start. We can also get industry on-board to help mitigate the problem.

"One part of the solution is to rethink the way goods are packaged,
cutting the demand for plastic. Water-soluble film, for example, can be
used to wrap small items. Hard-to-recycle plastics such as PVC and
expandable polystyrene could be phased out. [...]

Manufacturers could redesign plastic items so they can be reused better,
and rethink their production methods to make recycling easier. More
products could be made out of plastics which can be composted on an
industrial scale, including rubbish bags for organic waste and food
packaging for outdoor events, canteens and fast food outlets." [source]

As consumers, we have tremendous power in turning the plastic tide. Environmentally friendly ideas include:

Reject single use plastic bags, food containers and bottles

Rethink shampoo, dish and laundry soap

Petition your favorite brands to fa

vor biodegradable packaging like paper and glass

Contact your local stores and educate them about the damaging effects of plastic

There are several bright spots on the eco-friendly horizon, such
as a plastic eating mushroom and a small household device developed in
Japan that converts plastic waste into heating oil, gasoline, kerosene
and diesel.

As wonderful as these developments are, we are still faced with an overload of plastic - and it will only become worse.
Until we get a handle on the underlying problem of consumption and
waste, innovative technologies will simply be a Band-Aid for a larger
problem.
Article sources:

Carolanne Wright enthusiastically believes if we want to see change in the world, we need to be the
change. As a nutritionist, natural foods chef and wellness coach,
Carolanne has encouraged others to embrace a healthy lifestyle of
organic living, gratefulness and joyful orientation for over 13 years.

April 16, 2016 - JAPAN - After a series of deadly earthquakes in Japan, a “small-scale” eruption
of Mount Aso has been recorded by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

However, it decided to keep the alert level at 2, as it was not
immediately clear whether the natural disasters were related.
Plumes of smoke rose some 100 meters into the sky, according to
local media and videos captured by witnesses.

The eruption of Mt. Aso,
located in southern Japan, was recorded at around 11:30pm GMT Friday.Since
small eruptions had been recorded at Mt. Aso even before the series of
deadly quakes hit the area on Thursday and Friday, the Japanese
Meteorological Agency has reportedly decided to keep the alert level at 2
on a scale of 1-5.The volcano eruption follows two deadly earthquakes and dozens of powerful aftershocks that devastated Japan earlier this week.

On Friday (1:25am Saturday local time) a violent 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Kumamoto on the island of Kyushu. At least 11 people have so been confirmed dead in the disaster so far, while several dozens are feared to still be trapped under the rubble. Some 760 were treated in hospitals while rescue teams continue to search ruined houses.

Just a day beforehand, the same region was rattled by a 6.5 quake, in which at least ine people were killed and more than 850 injured. Authorities went on to evacuate over 40,000 people as scientists began to monitor nearby volcanoes for any signs of activity.

WATCH: Mount Aso volcano erupts.

Japanese authorities were also worried about a potential repeat of the 2011 Fukushima disaster scenario, when a 15-meter post-quake tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown. However, so far the Nuclear Regulation Authority said no irregularities had been recorded at three nuclear plants on the island of Kyushu and nearby Shikoku.

Over a hundred aftershocks have hit the region following the initial Thursday tremor. Officials have warned that the risk of further strong aftershocks will linger for about a week. - RT.